Stacie & Nate know how to throw a stress-free wedding (including a unity sandwich!)

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 | Photography by Complete Weddings and Events

You already saw their tips for pulling off The Easy Wedding, now see what that wedding looked like in action…

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The Offbeat Bride: Stacie, project manager (and Offbeat Bride Tribe member)

Her offbeat partner: Nate, filmmaker

Date and location of wedding: O'Shea's Irish Pub in Louisville, KY — January 3, 2015

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We decided from the beginning that we wanted the wedding to be stress free and pure fun. We heavily cut anything we didn't care about such as an aisle or bouquets. We also chose a venue that was already interesting on its own so we didn't need to add much decor. It's an Irish pub with great lighting, exposed brick, and an all-around good feel. I didn't want to have a big reveal/procession down the aisle, so we opted for a cocktail hour before the ceremony. Nate and I greeted everyone at the door, they warmed our rings, and then grabbed a drink. I love that we did this, because it double as a receiving line (allowing us to fully enjoy our reception) and it took off a lot of pressure.

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Tell us about your ceremony:

In lieu of an aisle, we walked out behind some old whiskey barrels, which served as our backdrop. We just threw up some candles around the barrels and rented a podium for us to stand on. We had a standing ceremony in the same room as the cocktails, with chairs in front for immediate family and guests who needed chairs.

The best part of the entire wedding was the raucous shouting and applause when we walked out for the ceremony. It was completely spontaneous, but so much fun! I had never been to a wedding where the crowd cheered like they were at a sporting event during the processional. It really helped put me at ease, though, and I had fun through the whole ceremony. We also had a unity sandwich and it was a huge hit. People are still talking about it. We also wanted a ring-warming ceremony, but we just had too many guests for that to work. Instead, I made a little bird nest and we kept it at the door so people could warm them on their way in.

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Tell us about your reception:

Our reception was very casual. We wanted it to be a mingling cocktail party more than anything. with finger foods, drinks, and pie. I spent a year collecting cute little matching salt and pepper shaker couples so that each pie had a topper on it.

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The favors were the photo strips from the photo booth as well as some sparkling ginger mead that we brewed and bottled. Pro-tip: you can print labels on regular paper, cut them out, and then adhere them to the bottle with milk. The only decor we added was the centerpieces, which were mismatched vases from Goodwill filled with dried hydrangeas from my grandma's garden that I then spray painted. I also stuck in some white-painted branches to add more height.

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Once the dance floor got going, it didn't stop! Nate's favorite moment was seeing my grandmother jump around to Blur's “Song 2.”

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What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Any other advice for Offbeat Bride readers?

The most important lesson I learned from wedding planning was that if you don't care about it, don't worry about including it. Before we even started planning, we made a list of priorities. Everything about our wedding was centered around those top three things. I was very relaxed throughout the entire day, because I didn't sweat the small stuff. Heck, I didn't even really sweat the big stuff.

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Another helpful thing was having only two major vendors. The venue took care of the space, food, drinks, and even provided tons of free votives. We hired Complete for the DJ, photo booth, and photographer. This made it to where all of our key wedding services were handled by about two people. I appointed a day-of coordinator and then just let the rest fall into place.

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Comments on Stacie & Nate know how to throw a stress-free wedding (including a unity sandwich!)

  1. Your dress is one of my favorites I have ever seen! Also, please tell me where your shoes are from!?

    • Yeah I definitely can’t take credit there. We were inspired by the OBB post linked above. I showed it to Nate as a joke, but he totally loved it and insisted we do it. If anyone wants to make sure their guests are laughing or smiling through their whole wedding, go with the unity sandwich.

  2. I LOVE everything about your wedding. Having fun and being stress free on your day is what it’s all about. Congrats to both of you!

  3. Would love to know more about greeting everyone as they came in? And then how did your “processional” (as in when did the bridesmaids/officiant etc. walk in/stand?) go and coordination for the ceremony work out? We’re also having a cocktail hour and I want to be able to enjoy it, and i’ve been looking around to see how the pre-ceremony cocktail hour has worked out for people.

    • We simply stood near the door and greeted everyone. Honestly I did not even have a chance to drink anything but water, but I didn’t mind. It was a great opportunity to get the hugs and “oooooommggg blehherj” out of the way. Everyone was good about moving through and grabbing drinks, filling up the space. We asked everyone to arrive btw 6-6:30 and went around behind our whiskey barrel backdrop at 6:45ish. I had asked the family members who were more in the know to make sure everyone got the message that it was time to turn around and move forward (we had two rows of chairs for the immediate family/elderly). Honestly once the regular background music stopped before the processional music started, that was a good queue for them to start gathering up toward the front. Then the music started and we walked out from behind our whiskey barrels. Pretty seamless, actually.

  4. Um, your ring is amazing. Your pie toppers were crazy hilarious. And, oh, to go back in time and have everyone cheer us on with wild applause, hoots, & hollering rather than a boring processional!! Jealous!! Congrats on your new marriage, though! <3

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